


What Rides on the Morning Mist

by silver_fish



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, no idols au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-22 17:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12487144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_fish/pseuds/silver_fish
Summary: Kanan likes mornings best, when the air is crisp and her thoughts clear.(Or, five times Kanan thought that she loved Chika, and the one time Chika said it for her.)





	What Rides on the Morning Mist

**Author's Note:**

> i am So Soft for kanachika and i've been itching to write love live fic for a while now...old eliumi and yohariko wips deep on my google drive shout at me from the abyss, but i blissfully wrote out this lil thing anyway bc like...who am i if i'm not writing for the rarest possible pairing i can lmfao
> 
> i essentially worship natsu no owari no amaoto ga so i threw in some refs to the song here and there just bc...oh. u kno. Why Not. this fic is pretty short, mostly just a chance for me to learn the charas so i can eventually write them better, but i hope to eventually write smth longer for llss
> 
> on that note i hope you enjoy!! <3
> 
> p.s. huge thank you to [kelsi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/phandalory) for beta'ing for me!!

**april**

Kanan has always started her days out like this: rising with the sun, taking her time to stretch her limbs, and then going out for a run. She’s done it for as long as she can remember, but she’s always found the late spring and early summer months to be the most enjoyable. The gentle breeze carries the sharp tang of the ocean, and the sunlight softly warms the night-chilled air.

In the beginning, it was just her.

And then, somewhere along the way, Chika made it her mission to join Kanan on these mornings.

Kanan has always admired Chika’s determination, but when Chika boldly told her that she would run alongside her in the mornings, Kanan couldn’t help but be amused.

“Okay,” she agreed, despite her misgivings about Chika’s dedication, “but I won’t wait for you if you sleep in!”

“I won’t sleep in!” Chika insisted. “I want to run with you, Kanan-chan!”

Kanan has never really been very good at denying Chika anything, so of course she didn’t protest it at all.

The first few days were…well, rocky, to say the least.

Though Kanan was insistent that she wouldn’t wait if Chika slept in, she waited, anyway. Chika eventually showed—about ten minutes late, but Kanan counts that as a win, regardless—and gave a breathless apology.

Kanan just laughed and said, “I hope you didn’t waste all your energy just getting here.”

Chika blanched, but then straightened up and declared, “My energy is limitless!”

And so Kanan took it a step slower than usual as she led Chika down her regular morning path.

About one-sixth of the way through, Chika stopped, wheezing for breath.

Kanan offered her a bottle of water and patiently waited for her to gain back some wind. Eventually, she looked up and beamed at Kanan.

“I’m okay!” she said. “Let’s keep going!”

But she still sounded quite breathless, Kanan thought; this is Chika, though, and if there is one thing Kanan knows about Chika, it’s that she would never tell a lie.

Kanan has known Chika for as long as she can remember. Chika and You are not exactly like her sisters, but they are very dear to Kanan’s heart, anyway.

It has been some time since Chika had first offered to run with Kanan—almost a year now, she thinks—and they have made a proper tradition out of it.

Chika’s endurance is much better than it was, and Kanan finds that even though they don’t always talk during this stretch of time, there is just something about _Chika_ that makes it a good time.

It is in April, when the sun is only just beginning to increase in its heat, that Kanan finds that things are beginning to change.

They’re older, now, than they once were. Kanan remembers when they were just kids, and Chika was terrified to swim. It seems like it was so long ago, and yet it wasn’t, not really. Kanan thinks that Chika has changed a lot from how she was back then, so scared to just _jump in_. Now, she takes life at storm, diving in head first into anything and everything that she possibly can.

Often, she gives up.

But she has yet to give up on Kanan.

It is on an early April morning, when the air is humid with the previous night’s rain and the warm air rolling off of the sea towards them, that Kanan really takes the time to consider who Chika _is_.

Chika, one of her best friends from childhood.

Chika, who runs with her in the mornings, despite how difficult it was for her at first to keep up.

Chika, beautiful Chika, with her bright eyes and her smile that shines more fiercely than even the sun.

“Kanan-chan,” Chika says one day, after they have finished their run for the day. She is breathing deeply, sweat glistening on her forehead, but she still remains positively radiant, even more so than the spring’s soft morning light.

“Yeah?” Kanan asks, keeping her voice low so that it does not quiver as her pounding pulse might make it.

“What is it about mornings?”

Kanan cocks her head slightly, frowning.

“Why run in the morning?” Chika clarifies. “There are so many hours in the day. Why choose these ones?”

Kanan thinks about it for a moment. “Well,” she says, “it’s cooler, for one, which is important in the summer. Wouldn’t want heat exhaustion, right?” She smiles slightly as Chika shakes her head. “And it’s quiet. People don’t often wake until around now. It’s nice, isn’t it, to get some time with just your thoughts?”

“What do you think about?” Chika prods.

Kanan hastily looks away from her. “Nothing, really. Just about what the day is like, I suppose.”

Chika is very quiet for a moment, and when Kanan sneaks a glance back at her, she sees that her friend has puffed out her cheeks slightly, looking rather contemplative.

Finally, she says, “I like the smell of the rain. It’s relaxing.”

“Yeah,” Kanan says quietly. “I suppose you’re right.”

Chika smiles at her.

“I think,” she says, “that I look forward to mornings a lot more than other people do.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Chika could hold galaxies, Kanan thinks, just in her smile. “Because I get to see you.”

Kanan feels her heart somewhere in her chest. Shocked, she lets out a short laugh. “Chika!” she cries. “You’re so silly!”

And Chika laughs, too, but the words do not stop playing in Kanan’s head.

Over and over and over again.

 _Because I get to see you_.

Beneath the late April sun, Chika _shines_.

Kanan has known Chika a lot time, has loved her a long time, as a good friend, as someone very important to her, but…

For the first time, beneath the late April sun, Kanan begins to wonder if, maybe, her love for Chika is a little different than she has always thought it was.

 

**may**

When they’re not in school, they’re almost always together.

Sometimes, they are alone.

Sometimes, they are with You.

Either way, Kanan takes a lot of time to ponder on her feelings for Chika.

One day, when they are all at Chika’s, and Chika excuses herself to use the washroom, You asks, “Is there something on your mind, Kanan-chan?”

And, yes, there is _too much_ on Kanan’s mind; it is like a whirlwind of emotion versus logic, an absolute disaster, in every sense of the word.

She says, “Not really, no.”

You simply frowns at her.

“It’s nothing, really,” Kanan assures her. “I just—”

“It’s about Chika-chan, right?” You presses. “You keep looking at her like…like you expect something magical to happen, or something. Has something happened between you two?”

Kanan feels her cheeks heat up slightly.

“N-no,” she manages. “We’re the same as always, honest.”

“So, what…?”

“It’s nothing,” Kanan says again. “Just…”

She cannot find any words to respond with.

But You merely smiles at her.

“Chika-chan’s sort of like the sun, right? She gives us both so much light. I think I understand what you’re thinking, Kanan-chan.”

“You do?”

“Sure. That look on your face is pretty telling, after all!”

You’s voice is teasing, but Kanan knows that she’s very serious. She’s known You for a long time, too, just as long as she has known Chika, and You has always been there for them both, with no hesitation whatsoever. Whatever You sees in Kanan’s gaze now, Kanan knows that she is not judging Kanan for it at all. Rather, she is perceiving it, and she is trying to work with Kanan, to help Kanan make some grain of sense out of it, too.

Kanan is very quiet as she says, “And what about Chika?”

“What about her?”

“What does the look on her face tell you?”

You’s smile fades away slowly. “I’m not sure,” she admits. “Chika-chan is…”

A little harder to read.

Chika’s just...always positive about _something_. Someone like Kanan, who is a little more in-tune with herself than the people around her, has a hard time keeping her more positive emotions a secret. She supposes that You noticed her watching Chika—sometimes, it feels like she spends too much time watching Chika, and, yet, it is somehow never quite enough—but Chika doesn’t make things like this very obvious. She’s too...exuberant, maybe.

There’s just something about _Chika_.

“But I’ll pay more attention!” You promises. “We’ve both known Chika-chan since forever. I’m sure we can crack her code eventually.”

Still, it is somewhat disheartening, that even You cannot see anything in the way Chika looks at Kanan.

At this moment, Chika returns, and she tilts her head slightly as she looks at them.

“What did I miss?” she asks, coming to sit beside You again.

“Nothing,” You says. “We were just talking about how silly you can be!”

Kanan watches as she sticks her tongue out at Chika, who pouts in response.

They’re not that old, really, Kanan thinks. Chika will be sixteen soon, and Kanan will be graduating at the end of this school year. Really, they are not that old, and yet…

Time slips between Kanan’s fingers, like the silky sands in an hourglass. It never stops turning.

They were children, just days ago, it seems.

In a way, they are still just children.

But the future sits ahead of them, uncertain in too many ways.

“Kanan-chan?”

Chika’s voice is always like a song—a song of saints, of angels and beautiful, golden light. What Chika says is laced with little bits of heaven, Kanan thinks.

“Sorry,” Kanan says. “I guess I was spacing out a little bit.”

You’s smile is sympathetic, but Chika doesn’t seem to notice their friend’s look at all. Instead, she simply giggles and says, “Well, that’s nothing new!”

You laughs, too, and Kanan joins in slowly.

They’re all friends, after all, and no matter of time or feelings or whatever could lie in between could ever change that.

“I need to get going,” You says suddenly. “It’s starting to get a little late, isn’t it? Kanan-chan, are you staying?”

Kanan nods. “Just for a bit,” she says. “Have a good evening.”

You beams at them. “You too! Later, Chika-chan, Kanan-chan!”

They wave their farewells as she steps out of Chika’s room, but Chika frowns once she is gone.

“That was abrupt,” she says.

“It is getting late, though,” Kanan reminds her. “A-anyway, what do you want to do now?”

“Let’s play another round,” Chika says, gesturing to the cards laid out before them from the game they had been playing with You.

They do, and Kanan puts her thoughts to the back of her mind to focus on Chika and their game. In the end, Kanan comes out victorious, but Chika doesn’t seem upset at all.

“Good job, Kanan-chan!” she says. “That was a lot of fun.”

Kanan is quick to nod in agreement. “It was. I have to get going, too, though. We both have to be rested for the morning, after all.” She winks, and Chika laughs that warm, melodic laugh that makes Kanan’s heart clench.

“I’ll walk you out,” Chika offers, and of course Kanan could never refuse such a thing.

They make their way downstairs, then through the front door. Kanan notices Shiitake sitting by the door, almost as if he has been waiting for them. Kanan spares a smile for the dog, then reaches over and pats his head.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

Kanan glances back at Chika, who is watching her, lips pulled up slightly into a small smile.

“Of course,” Kanan says. “Bright and early, like always!”

Chika’s smile widens, but she doesn’t say anything else. Instead, she comes to stand by Kanan’s side, reaching down to stroke Shiitake’s head. In the action, her hand brushes against Kanan’s, and Kanan feels her breath catch and her pulse pound and…

Chika looks over to her, wearing _that_ smile—that smile that is so very _Chika_ , that shines brighter than the sinking sun behind them—and she says, “Thanks for spending the time with me, Kanan-chan.” She pulls her hand away and takes a small step back, then another. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she promises as she turns and makes her way back inside.

Kanan watches her as she leaves, feeling somewhat disoriented.

Her hand tingles slightly where Chika touched her.

She smiles, but it feels almost painful as her lips pull up shakily.

There is no doubt about it, really: she loves Chika, and it will take a force far greater than either of them could ever hold in their bodies to make her stop.

 

**june**

There are moments, just like this, where Kanan gets the time to simply think.

It is very quiet, save for the hymn of nature which sings out around them, and the sun rises just ahead of them.

Chika is watching the sunrise, her eyes wide in wonderment, but Kanan cannot keep her gaze off of Chika. She sees the way Chika’s lips are somewhat open, into a small O-shape as she looks out to the horizon, and the way her hair waves slightly in the morning’s breeze. Kanan thinks that she watches Chika so closely that their breaths begin to come and go in time with each other.

“Wow,” Chika says, breaking Kanan from her reverie. “It’s so beautiful.”

Chika turns to her, blinking slowly, as if surprised.

“Yeah,” Kanan says. “It is, isn’t it?”

But her eyes have yet to leave Chika at all.

Chika glows beneath the light of the rising sun. She is angelic, in every sense of the word.

“You watch this every morning?” Chika asks.

Kanan lets out a shaky breath.

“Yeah,” she says. “It’s better to have you here.”

Chika smile at her. “Then, I guess I’ll just have to come by more often!”

“We’re getting into the longest days of the year,” Kanan reminds her. “Do you really think you can wake up early enough?”

“I can!” Chika pouts at her. “I’ve managed really well so far, right? And if it’s for _you_ …”

Kanan’s heart stutters in her chest, but she covers it up with a laugh. “If you say so,” she says teasingly. “I’ll believe it once I see it.”

“You’d better believe it!” Chika says. “Have I ever broken a promise?”

Her eyes sparkle in the oncoming morning light.

No, Kanan remembers when they were just kids and Chika always insisted on _promising_ things.

“ _Pinky promise_?” Chika asked.

She was about six, Kanan thinks.

“ _It’ll be okay_ ,” Kanan had told her confidently. “ _Just act first, think later_!”

But Chika was thinking too much. As a kid, she was something of a chronic worrier, really.

She’s matured a lot, though, Kanan thinks now.

Back then, she had Kanan to cling to.

Now…

“Hey, Chika.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think these memories exist inside of summer?”

Chika peers over at her with a frown. Kanan tries not to let the look bother her too much, but…

“I don’t understand,” Chika says.

Kanan laughs slowly, but it resounds painfully in her chest. “It’s nothing,” she says.

“It’s not—”

“I wonder what our futures will bring for us,” Kanan muses. “It moves fast, doesn’t it?”

They have spent too much time talking. The sun is above the horizon completely now. It still paints a slightly pastel sky above them, but they have missed most of the second half of the actual sunrise.

“Oh,” Chika breathes out.

She sounds disappointed.

Moments only last so long, Kanan thinks.

Moments like these always fade away eventually.

But Chika turns to her and smiles.

“Well, there’s always tomorrow!”

Why would Kanan ever need to the light of the sun, when Chika is so bright all on her own?

“You’re right,” Kanan says. “We should get going. If we stay too much longer, we won’t make it to school.”

She says it with a teasing voice, and Chika groans. But as Kanan smiles at the girl’s antics, she can’t help but feel a little pang in her chest.

This is just a moment, after all.

Once the year is over and Kanan has graduated, things will probably change.

They will never live this summer out again, surely.

But Chika steps past her and looks back with a wide smile.

“Well?” she asks. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah,” Kanan says. She hesitates for a moment, glancing towards the still-rising sun, then looks to Chika again.

And, yes, there is no doubt about it:

Chika is sort of like Kanan’s sun.

She shines so brightly, and everything about her draws Kanan ever-closer, a gravity far beyond anything Kanan has ever felt before.

As they begin their walk back, Kanan takes a moment to think about things.

Just a moment, of course.

Life is made up of little moments like these.

The time that she spends with Chika is precious in a way her other moments are not.

Chika, her sunshine.

Chika, her best friend.

Chika, her love.

Chika.

 _Chika_.

With the rising sun behind them, they move into their next moment. Chika walks down the worn trail excitedly, looking over to Kanan frequently.

At one point, Chika grabs her hand and pulls her forward more quickly.

And, yes, it is just a moment.

But Chika exists in the moment like nobody else that Kanan knows, and Kanan cannot help but think that these moments, like her love for Chika, will be everlasting.

They do not need to exist within summer, she decides, so long as she can carry them through into the future with her.

 

**july**

Kanan is a morning person.

Chika is not.

So, it is in the middle of July that Kanan proposes they spend a night together to admire the inky expanse of sky above.

Chika asks, “Why?”

Kanan merely says, “Because sometimes it’s nice to have a change.”

And Chika doesn’t say anything else. Kanan assumes that that means she understands, in a way she cannot express wholly through words.

They’re good at communicating with each other, really. They always have been. They aren’t similar people, technically, but they have always been more than willing to go that extra stretch to meet somewhere in the middle.

Like when Chika let Kanan teach her to swim.

Like when Chika decided she would run in the morning with Kanan.

But...what has Kanan done for Chika?

She’s always been sure she has done a lot, but perhaps it’s not true at all.

There are steps she has to make to meet Chika in the middle, but she supposes she has to take a leap before she can really get there.

Chika brings them snacks and blankets, and they sit out behind Kanan’s house together. The moon is almost full, Kanan realizes, and it illuminates the night beautifully.

Beneath the soft glow of dusk, Chika looks somehow divine.

“We tried this once before, remember?”

Kanan looks to Chika in surprise.

“With You-chan,” Chika clarifies. “But we couldn’t stay awake!”

She laughs. Kanan feels her skin tickle with the feeling of it, the warmth it casts over her far greater than that of the midsummer night.

“That was a long time ago,” Kanan recalls.

“I think we can manage to stay awake through the whole night, now,” Chika says confidently.

Kanan’s lips twitch slightly. “I don’t know about that. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter, Chika?”

Chika frowns, thoughtful, then slowly shakes her head, turning to Kanan with an almost bashful look.

“Me either,” Kanan tells her. “So, either we’ll do it together for the first time, or we’ll both fall asleep out here.”

Chika laughs again.

Kanan suspects that she won’t sleep at all, if that noise continues to play in her head. It is almost intoxicating in its beauty.

“Then, it’s sort of like an adventure!” Chika says excitedly. “Uncharted territory for Takami Chika and Matsuura Kanan!”

Kanan cannot keep the smile off of her face.

Chika’s not immature, but any means, but she has moments like this, moments of such a childlike excitement, a type of innocence only angels could possibly carry on their wings, and Kanan cannot help but adore her for it.

Her eyes sparkle as they meet Kanan’s.

“I don’t know a lot about the stars,” Kanan admits.

“Me either.” Chika turns her gaze upward, sticking her tongue out in thought. “But they’re pretty, right?”

“We’re lucky we can see them so well,” Kanan muses. “I imagine there’s no view like this in Tokyo.”

“I don’t think I would want to live my life without seeing this again,” Chika confesses. She turns to face Kanan again, and her lips pull up into a soft smile. “Especially not without you.”

Kanan’s chest feels very tight, and she realizes that she is holding her breath, staring at Chika rather intently. She looks away, feeling her cheeks sting, and says, “Me either.”

They are very quiet for a long time.

Eventually, Chika comes to lean against Kanan’s side.

She points out the constellations that she knows, but the list is short, and her voice grows steadily quieter as she continues.

Kanan looks down at her, something very soft pushing against her heart.

Chika runs out of words, but Kanan is more than content to just sit her with her, their eyes on the sky above.

It is endless, and its infinite stretch is gorgeous. Kanan wonders if there is an edge to the universe, and if she would ever want to know about it, if there was.

She feels Chika’s heart beside hers, and hears Chika’s breaths in time with her own, and everything feels suddenly very real.

These moments.

Her feelings.

Chika, right beside her.

She looks up at the sky. Her pulse picks up. Her breaths stick in her throat.

 _I love you_.

 _I love you_.

“ _I love you_.”

Her words are a shaky whisper, hardly real words at all, and she holds her breath for a moment, waiting, waiting…

Chika says nothing.

Kanan looks down at her, and a nervous laugh rises on her lips.

Chika’s eyelids are closed, and her breaths come slow and deep between partially-parted lips.

She is asleep, almost dead to the world completely, as she tends to be under the heavy blanket of sleep.

Kanan reaches a hand down and brushes her hair aside slightly.

There will be other moments, she knows.

For now, she will let Chika sleep beside her, beneath the gentle light of the night.

 

**august**

“It’s so hot,” Chika complains.

“Be thankful, Chika-chan,” You tells her. “Summer will be over before we know it.”

“That’s right,” Kanan agrees. “We have to make the best of these days while we still have them, and we’ll have to be back to school soon, too, so we should spend these days as relaxed as we can.”

“I don’t think you’re too relaxed, Kanan-chan,” You says teasingly. “You still do the exact same thing every day.”

“That’s not true!” Kanan protests.

Both her friends cast her dubious looks.

“W-well, it’s not like I can just stop working and stuff, you know,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest. “My dad needs my help.”

Chika smiles. “We know that. We think it’s great that you’re so dedicated.”

“We all know a certain someone who could learn from your example, after all,” You says conspiratorially.

“Huh? Who?”

You flicks Chika’s forehead, laughing. “You, obviously.”

Chika pouts at her.

Kanan’s lips twitch slightly. “I think you’re perfectly fine how you are, Chika.”

You shoots her a knowing look. “Of course _you_ would, Kanan-chan.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

You laughs, then turns to Chika and says, “If it’s so hot, what do you want to do, then?”

“Let’s go swimming!” Chika says, standing up abruptly.

You looks to Kanan in delight, and Kanan nods slowly.

“Sure,” she says. “As long as you both have swimsuits.”

In an instant, both girls dig through their bags and hold up their respective swimsuits.

Kanan laughs. “Let’s go, then!”

They do, changing quickly. and then racing for the beach. Chika is the first in the water, running over the sand at a speed Kanan’s sure she wouldn’t have been able to manage just months ago.

As Chika makes her grand splash, You turns to Kanan and asks, “When are you going to tell her, Kanan-chan?”

Kanan shakes her head.

You frowns at her. “You can’t just keep it a secret forever.”

“I wouldn’t want to ruin anything,” Kanan says, looking out to Chika, who is animatedly calling for them to join her, waving her hands above her head like a mad woman.

You laughs, calling out, “We’re coming, we’re coming, settle down!” before turning back to Kanan again, her face deadly serious. “We both know Chika-chan really well. What could you possibly ruin by being honest?”

It’s embarrassing, Kanan says, so she says, instead, “I don’t know.”

You looks at her sadly. “You should say something soon,” she says. “You might be surprised by what Chika-chan says in response.”

Before Kanan can think of anything else to say, Chika cries out from the water, “Come on, come on! I can’t wait here all day!”

You shoots Kanan a small smile, then sprints towards Chika, jumping into the water with her.

Kanan watches them for a moment, feeling somewhat disoriented. What did You mean by that? Has Chika said something her that Kanan doesn’t know about?

“Come on, Kanan-chan!” Chika calls, and You waves an arm, jumping up and down to catch Kanan’s eye.

Kanan can’t help the way her lips pull up as she jogs forward, coming to join her friends in the water.

Wet with the ocean’s touch, the sunlight that brushes over Chika’s skin makes her absolutely shine.

She is golden, completely.

She smiles at Kanan, and it is like the world shifts on its axis slightly.

It is late summer, but surely one of the hottest days of the year.

They’ll be back in school again soon, Kanan in the second term of her third year and Chika in the second term of her second, but…

Beneath the burning August sun, time seems to freeze, if only for a moment. And as Chika calls out her name, as if it is some kind of godly message, Kanan understands:

Life, thought made up of little moments, doesn’t really stop for people. Months ago, when Chika decided to start running with Kanan in the mornings, Kanan found something between the sunrise and the cool touch of the morning mist.

She found love, unlike any love she has felt before.

Now, as the end of summer sings out around them, Kanan knows for certain that she loves Chika, and that she will never _stop_ loving Chika.

But, for now, she cannot break this kind of day, a happy day spent with her childhood best friends.

She pushes her feelings aside, and simply lets herself soak up their summer day.

 

**september**

“Thank you.”

Chika doesn’t look at her immediately, and Kanan holds her breath, worried.

When Chika faces her, it is with a smile.

“No,” she says. “Thank you. I’m really glad you’ve let me come with you all this time. I know you like these hours to be alone, so—”

“I don’t,” Kanan says.

Chika blinks, her smile faltering. “Really?”

Kanan nods. “It’s better with you.”

Chika’s gaze is very soft. Far softer than the sunset behind her.

She says, “I’m glad.”

Kanan watches her for a moment, voice thick, and then says, “I’m glad that these memories don’t have to only exist inside of summer.”

Chika looks up, eyes searching the oranges and pinks above them.

“I’m glad, too. I would never want to lose this.”

Kanan feels her breath catch slightly.

“Hey, Kanan-chan.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Do you know what I love most about these mornings?”

“...What?”

Chika turns to her, smiling, and says, “The rest of the world is sleeping, but we’re here, together. That’s more special to me than anything else. I really—cherish these moments.”

Kanan stares at her, heart beating fast.

“Hey, Kanan-chan.”

“Yes?” Kanan squeaks out.

“You shouldn’t be afraid of just jumping in.” Chika’s eyes sparkle slightly, and Kanan suspects it is completely unrelated to the light of the sun behind her.

Before Kanan can even try to understand Chika’s words, Chika leans forward and chastely presses their lips together.

Kanan feels the entire world spin. There is the sun, and there is Chika, and they are surely the same thing, yet the sun feels so vastly far away from her, and Chika feels so close, closer than she ever has been, less like someone that Kanan knows and more like an extension of herself, a part of her being that has come together with her to make one complete piece.

Two souls, merged into one, as they surely are meant to be.

Kanan closes her eyes, and accepts the jump.

Chika pulls away from her slowly, but stays close enough that her breath tickles at Kanan’s lips. Kanan lets her eyes flutter open again, and she feels her breath catch all over again.

Chika is _shining_ , she thinks.

“If you never take the jump,” Chika reminds her quietly, “you can never get the feeling.”

“The feeling?” Kanan echoes, but her voice is shaky, overwhelmed with all sorts of feelings.

Chika smiles at her. “Yeah. I think I would call this feeling…”

Chika is bright, like the sun.

She has a sort of gravity to her, a beautiful magnetism that Kanan could never, ever escape, even if she wanted to (and she doesn’t; she never has).

She shines golden, some kind of angel, Kanan’s very own sunshine.

“...love.”

Kanan smiles softly, but it feels a little wobbly.

She asks, “You love me?”

“So much,” Chika confirms.

Kanan leans a little closer to her.

“I love you, too,” she murmurs. “I have for a very long time.”

She presses their lips together again, and though it is just a moment—just one beautiful, happy moment—she knows that every moment that will come next will be just as amazing.

After all, how could it not be, when she will have Chika by her side through it all?

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are always appreciated! xx


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